


Gods Forgotten

by TwistedToxic



Series: Children of The Night [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst, Bad Ending, Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Character Death, Explosion, Gen, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt No Comfort, Major Character Injury, Mindfuck, Not Happy, Somewhat graphic, Torture, and to like punch the Joker, like towards the end, some symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:26:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24285826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedToxic/pseuds/TwistedToxic
Summary: "Tell me, which hurts more? A?" Jason screamed as the metal caught on the skin of his stomach and pulled, the near vicinity painted silver with his agony. "Or B?" Jason felt something in his body crack. Was it his ribs being shattered? His ribs puncturing his lungs? His pelvis giving way? He couldn't tell anymore. "Forehand?" The hit landed straight in Jason's chest as he wheezed, coughing out more blood. Please... Please no more... "Or backhand?" Jason gagged when it nailed him in the stomach. He rolled onto his side as he spit up blood with faint traces of bile.No matter the universe, Jason always seems to have a bad time.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Series: Children of The Night [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753171
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	Gods Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow, I ended up writing another thing because the plot bunny came and a few hours later, here I am! Reader discretion is strongly advised due to a pretty graphic torture scene in the first part. It's not as bad as I could have written it if I wasn't skipping on sleep, lmao.
> 
> I will add this list as a reference on all works in this series, that way no one has to look for who is who on a separate work. For now, it's just the Batfam. This could change in later fics, but this is what currently stands.
> 
> Alfred Pennyworth: The god of health and medicine  
> Bruce Wayne: The god of dark and the night  
> Dick Grayson: The god of love  
> Barbara Gordon: The god of truth  
> Jason Todd: The god of innocence/later becomes a different god, but no spoilers here  
> Tim Drake: The god of wisdom  
> Stephanie Brown: The god of merriment  
> Cassandra Cain: The god of beauty  
> Duke Thomas:The god of day and light  
> Damian Wayne: The god of muse and artistry
> 
> Harper and Cullen are likely to be added later on, as I haven't figured it out yet.
> 
> There's also some symbolism in here, both associated with smells and godshifts (aka, a second form which is like a hybrid of a human and an animal), and there's a bit of weird biology in play, like how long gods can bleed without dying.

The young boy let out a loud and pathetic whimper as the crowbar hooked on one of his ribs. They were all probably broken anyways. The god of innocence, at the mercy of the god of chaos. It was bitterly _ironic_ , wasn't it?

"Dad..." Jason's voice was but a whisper, falling on deaf ears. Or, at least the wrong ears. Sometimes, he wished he were a mortal, even if only to pray for his father to save him, and he'd be there, but a god could not pray to another. All the Joker did was cackle louder.

"You want your _daddy? How sweet_!" He taunted, as the goons around them laughed. Jason wanted to cry, but he wouldn't give the bastard that satisfaction as well. Not like using his godshift would work. He was the god of innocence, and a fluffy bunny creature made anybody laugh instead of fear him. He wasn't even 5 feet tall yet, how could he expect to be _feared_? "He won't come for you." He said, getting close to his face, so close that Jason could smell his breath, the stench of burning firewood. He grinned.

"Want a mint or something?" He snarked, hissing as he was grabbed by the hair and groaning as his face slammed into the floor. He looked up at the other god and spit his silvery blood in his face.

"Now now, that was quite rude, kid. Surely, if he could raise _Dick_ , he could have raised you better?" Jason flinched.

"Don't you compare me to him, you-"

"God of innocence?" Joker sneered. "You would be better off as the god of _naïvety_." He cackled louder as Jason's screams echoed through the building, silver blood staining the white marble floor, cracks where the impact was so hard it damaged it. It looked like the hall of the gods, but _why_ was he alone? Alone with... _Him_.

Jason could feel the metal catch on his skin and pull pieces out, blood pooling in the wound. Sometimes, he'd hit him somewhere else. Other times, he'd hit the exact spot until muscles were being pulled out of his skin with sickening and fleshy rips.

"Tell me, which hurts more? A?" Jason screamed as the metal caught on the skin of his stomach and pulled, the near vicinity painted silver with his agony. " _Or B_?" Jason felt something in his body crack. Was it his ribs being shattered? His ribs puncturing his lungs? His pelvis giving way? He couldn't tell anymore. "Forehand?" The hit landed straight in Jason's chest as he wheezed, coughing out more blood. Please... Please no more... "Or _backhand_?" Jason gagged when it nailed him in the stomach. He rolled onto his side as he spit up blood with faint traces of bile.

"F-Fuck you.' Jason spat, gasping as he tried to take in breaths that burned like electric shocks in his lungs and wouldn't come.

"Now, now..." Joker clicked his tongue. "That's a naughty word.. Somebody ought to teach you _better_!" He cackled with glee as he brought the bar down on Jason's face. He heard the kid's jaw crack as he grunted, spitting out a few teeth he'd knocked out into the mess of blood and sinew. "There we go."

* * *

Bruce was looking everywhere.

" _Please_ tell me you've found him." Dick's voice was broken and pleading as his wings flapped with the effort of staying airborne. "He's not airborne so I'm coming down." Bruce grunted an affirmative.

"We'll need to split up, Dick. We might find him faster." Bruce had a point, _but..._

"Yes, but some cult decided to release the god of chaos! You could get killed if we split up." Bruce shook his head.

"It's the only way." He said, before Dick gave a resigned affirmative as Bruce headed off in one direction, and Dick the other. No aerial visuals, no ground visuals as of yet. Bruce fought the tight feeling in his throat. _What if Jason was taken by the Joker?_ Jason... His _son_ , at the mercy of that _monster_. What he did to Babs... What he was going to do to Dick...

Bruce felt sick, but he pushed all of that down to keep looking for his son. He had to find him before anything happened to him. He couldn't let him get hurt. He'd never forgive himself if Dick or Jason were hurt. Especially if it were by that madman. He needed to keep going, to keep looking.

Hours turned into days, and the days into weeks. Dick refused to give up hope, but it was starting to look grim. Bruce wouldn't either, until he knew where his son was, but... Did he want to find his son, if he was only going to find him _dead_?

The weeks eventually became months. Bruce wanted to rage against the other gods, his fury building steadily that his son was missing could rival the god of war's fury. A kid, a bit younger than Jason, confronted the god of the dark.

"Sir. I do believe I have located your son." Bruce wanted more than anything to hope, to _believe him... And so he did._

* * *

_Hope was a dangerous thing._ Dried blood laid upon the stairs of the old hall of gods. It was going to be repaired, but it looked more fitting that way, a ruin of the people the gods used to be.

Bruce's heart leaped, looking at the young god of wisdom, Tim, was his name. He thanked him twice over, and now all he needed was his son. He could help, he could make him well again. He only saw the blood, not the missing chunks of flesh so bad the bones were visible on his skin. His ribs poked through, having lost so much weight after being starved for so long. He smelled of daisies, but the blood on the ground, no matter how dry, carried the scent of distress and daisies so thick it made Bruce feel sick. It was a twisted mockery of his scent.

He entered the labyrinth of the ruins. It was much harder to get to him than it seemed from the outside, fallen structures and different paths leading to nowhere. In case of intruders, but this wasn't the labyrinth he remembered. He felt the walls shifting even as he moved passage to passage. What if Tim was _wrong_? What if he wasn't here? He felt the explosion before he heard it, a groan escaping his lips as he stood back up, trying to dodge the shifting labyrinth walls or the crumbling ones. He followed the explosion, until another one had knocked him out cold.

When he came to, he was surrounded by fragments of marble and some of the old suits of armor they wore. His instincts came back over him, the scent of daisies filling the air. He frantically searched, and if he were a mortal, he would have passed out from hyperventilation. The scent became unbearable at one point, and he heaved up marble stones and columns, adrenaline flooding through him and making his vision white out.

There he was: Jason Peter Todd. Rigor mortis set in already, but the look of fear permanently etched into the boy's young face that betrayed the stiffness of his body would haunt him for _years_ to come. He could feel all the indents in his skin of chunks of flesh missing, his body still covered in silver. He _failed_ him. Jason was dead. _Killed by the god of chaos._

Bruce let out a roar, filled with rage, promise, but most of all, agony. His son... _Gone_.

_Even though April 27th was in the middle of spring, it was always the longest and darkest night of the year._

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to write this as a multi chapter thing, but decided instead to turn it into a series of oneshots, some of which might have multiple chapters in the future.
> 
> To clear a bit of the mindfuck up, the walls aren't supposed to shift and Bruce was only seeing the illusion that he was close to saving Jason, because the good old clown bastard had some... Help, in pulling this off, but that's a later plotline and I won't spoil it.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for reading! Let me know if you would like any tags added!


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